Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

48 reviews

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous funny

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Homophobia

Moderate: Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

loveyoulike's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

wow, i almost forgot just how wonderful this book is. this is how you deliver a good best friends to lovers story. this is how you do mutual pining. this is how you do character development. this is how you do 1st person pov prose. some of the plot events feel extra convenient, but i'm willing to led them slide because they made the story much more fun.

in some parts the story leaned into a "force-feeding white men the concept of decency" story, but it's probably just monty's reckless no thoughts whatsoever voice that amplified that. the switch-up at the end could've used some enlightening moment though. like i know the author drops hints that monty didn't want to go home and all, but i thought he was still confused about what to do the entire time so a "...Wow, i can't leave percy ever" moment that's NOT done in dialogue would've sealed the deal for me personally

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Self harm, Violence, and Misogyny

minke's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Gun violence

Minor: Forced institutionalization

breadbees's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexism, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

thebookschico's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Homophobia

joisaddler's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

Discrimination against people with medical conditions

a_bloom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The writing is absolutely PHENOMENAL and so freaky funny. It's also heart reaching, but you can always kinda see it coming. It's technically a long book but something you could get through in a couple of days. 


<Spoiler>It also talks about a lot of interesting topics that were seen as taboo (although some of them aren't brought to a whole lot of detail considering the whole book is told from the perspective of a traumatized white teen boy who's an Earls son... But he slowly starts to learn, grow, and mature as he keeps ALMOST DYING.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Biphobia, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Outing, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit

crufts's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Entertaining, heartwarming, all-round a delightful and exciting story.

Our charismatic-scoundrel-with-a-heart-of-gold protagonist (Henry "Monty" Montague), an 18-year-old English lord, embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe with sister Felicity and best friend Percy. Naturally, it all goes completely off the rails. In the process Monty matures considerably, and forever changes his standing regarding his father and his travelling companions.

There's so much to enjoy about the book:

• Interesting setting. Assuming that the depiction of the 1700s is accurate, I thought it was fascinating how there was a strong England/France alliance with tourists visiting frequently from both sides, even though everyone was relying on communicating by letters. There were already English banks, embassies, etc in France, which did not intend to become French but rather to remain there as international institutions.
• Good bisexual representation! Monty's crush on Percy is a main plot thread, but his attraction to women isn't dismissed or trivialized. He is not "really" gay, he is really bisexual.
• Fabulous audiobook narration, especially of the French villain's voice.
• A somewhat magical plot device is foreshadowed well in advance and didn't feel like a huge surprise or genre-breaker when it appears.
  
  

I notice that some of the reviewers here can't stand Monty's personality, finding him to be too much of a "rake" (scoundrel) and too inconsiderate to his travelling companions. I agree that Monty is an ass, but I also thought this was balanced out pretty well by the fact that he's constantly getting payback for his misbehaviour from not only the world at large, but also from Felicity and Percy themselves.

I did find it a tad contrived that

despite their long-held mutual crush on eachother, Monty and Percy didn't get the truth out between them until the end.

The main obstruction is established at the beginning,  when Percy asks Monty if them kissing was all just a lark, and a flustered Monty replies "No... yes!". Disappointed and not wanting to just be yet another of Monty's flings, Percy ends the situation.

This was hard to believe because (a) Monty is good at reading people, as seen when he chats up a bank clerk later in the book, and should have been able to piece together Percy's reaction; and (b) Monty wanted to tell Percy about his feelings for years and believed it to be Real Love™, not just a lark.

I think it would've been more believable if, for example:
- When asked if was just a lark, Monty replies something cautious like "I dunno, what do you want it to be?". Percy could then interpret this pessimistically ("He's just humouring me") and the plot could continue as before.
- It could be more obvious (perhaps just to the reader, if not to Monty himself) that Percy ended the situation because he's not a one-night-fling sort of guy and believed that Monty's nature would never change. For example, Percy might ask Monty about his fling with the girl at Versailles and express his opinion that he could never have a one-off relationship like that with someone, even if he loved them

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I also found the writing style to be overly flowery at times, with a bit too much detail about specific thoughts or particular actions.
However, I still found The Gentleman's Guide to be an excellent book and would certainly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Blood, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing and Racism

Minor: Death of parent

Period-typical sexism, homophobia, biphobia, etc due to the 1700s setting.

Violence, blood, medical content: Appears during and after action scenes during the book. Also, a main character has epileptic fits.

Domestic abuse, bullying: Against the protagonist from his father, resulting in what is likely PTSD.

Racism: Against one of the later allies in the book.

Death of parent: Suffered by a pair of minor characters.

sermerlin's review against another edition

I find the main character of this story not like able at all. You’d think that he’d learn from his mistakes, but at every opportunity to better himself he makes the same mistake. It’s a shame, because the story is promising. I adore the love interest. Part of rooting for a couple is hoping two people will find each other even though the odds are stacked against them. In this case the love interest deserves much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Domestic abuse

ellen120's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Minor: Racism